Offloading input/output (I/O) completion operations

1. A method, in a multi-processor data processing system, for offloading an input/output (I/O) completion operation, the method comprising:

responsive to a second processor identifying that a flag has been set by a first processor requesting assistance in completing an I/O operation, copying, by the second processor, an I/O response from a first I/O response data structure associated with the first processor to a second I/O response data structure associated with the second processor;

deleting, by the second processor, the I/O response from the first I/O response data structure;

clearing, by the second processor, the flag;

processing, by the second processor, the I/O operation by addressing the I/O response in the second I/O response data structure; and

responsive to completing the I/O operation, deleting, by the second processor, the I/O response from the second I/O response data structure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flag is in a flag data structure in a shared memory area.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first I/O response data structure is in a private memory area owned by the first processor.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second I/O response data structure is in a private memory area owned by the second processor.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second processor gains access to the first I/O response data structure by the method comprising:

locking, by the second processor, the first I/O response data structure prior to copying the I/O response from the first I/O response data structure associated with the first processor to the second I/O response data structure associated with the second processor; and

responsive to the second processor deleting the I/O response from the first I/O response data structure, unlocking, by the second processor, the first I/O response data structure.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

prior to the second processor locking the first I/O response data structure, determining, by the second processor, whether another processor has already obtained a lock on the first I/O response data structure;

responsive to a determination, by the second processor, that no other processor has obtained the lock on the first I/O response data structure, proceeding, by the second processor, with obtaining the lock on the first I/O response data structure; and

responsive to a determination, by the second processor, that the other processor has obtained the lock on the first I/O response data structure, discontinuing, by the second processor, the process of assisting in completion of the I/O operation.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

responsive to the first processor completing higher priority work and identifying that the flag was set by a first processor requesting assistance in completing the I/O operation, clearing, by the first processor, the flag;

processing, by the first processor, the I/O operation by addressing the I/O response in the second I/O response data structure; and

responsive to completing the I/O operation, deleting, by the first processor, the I/O response from the first I/O response data structure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flag indicating the requested assistance in completing the I/O operation is set by the method comprising:

responsive to the I/O response being migratable, accessing, by the first processor, a timestamp associated with the I/O response entry in the first I/O response data structure;

subtracting, by the first processor, the time value associated with the timestamp from a current time, thereby forming a wait time;

determining, by the first processor, whether the wait time exceeds a wait-time threshold value; and

responsive to the wait time exceeding the wait-time threshold value, setting, by the first processor, the flag in a flag data structure in a shared memory area.